Are you one of these organised people that never loses a thing? Well done if you are! Some of us mislay things regularly, losing things on a daily, even hourly, occurrence. We’re all different. For the most part we may just shrug our shoulders if we can’t find something, it depends how important it is. Other times we might rip our houses apart looking for the said item. But, sometimes, things go missing and there’s no explanation to the hows, whys and wherefores of it happening. Could it be apporting?
When my friend Owen (from Time Between Times podcast) posted a video on an Uncanny Community Whatsapp group we are part of, about a strange event concerning a missing and reappearing clicker (the type you may use for a Powerpoint presentation) it prompted another friend Michelle to say she too had a couple of experiences of objects disappearing and then turning up again. It’s known as apporting.
It got me thinking about something that happened in my house too just before Christmas last year. So, Michelle and Owen have very kindly agreed to share their stories. And I’ll add mine too. I’ve come across quite a few people who have had ‘things’ just disappear inexplicably only to reappear randomly. And sometimes these items just never reappear.
Of course, we all lose things. Some of us mislay things multiple times a day. And we may find these things in the strangest of places. Our brains are complicated things, and we can’t remember everything! However, there are times when items disappear and there is absolutely no explanation for how they were lost, where they have gone and how they could possibly return.
Let’s hear Michelle’s first story. I should just point out Michelle is as reliable a witness as you can possibly get. I would describe her as an ultra-sceptic, a highly intelligent scientist by profession, and someone who does a great job of finding explanations for reported paranormal phenomena. Long and short of it, if Michelle can’t find an explanation, there’s something weird going on!
Apporting Nail polish
I was going to a work Christmas party and wanted to paint my nails, but couldn’t find my red nail varnish. I had a total of three varnishes at that time, and they lived on a low shelf above a desk in the spare bedroom. The other two were there, but not the one that matched my outfit. I didn’t wear any of them regularly, and the red I had perhaps only worn once, probably the previous Christmas, so it was odd that it wasn’t in the spot where it was usually kept.
After hunting extensively, I gave up and went out without my nails done. But I was furious it had chosen the exact moment I needed it to disappear and was wildly curious where it had got to, so I kept looking for it over the following days and even weeks, without luck. My husband even helped. It had just vanished. There were no pets or kids in the house who could have moved it, and the room was rarely used, so the idea it had been accidentally displaced wasn’t particularly compelling, although not impossible. We very seldom had visitors either.
Then, I realised that my mum had visited and stayed in that room a few weeks earlier. Of course! she had either moved it or mistaken it for one of hers and taken it with her. So, I texted her, and got an instant response: no, she didn’t have it. OK, but she had responded so quickly I doubted she had really had time to check. I secretly wondered if she did have it but felt guilty or embarrassed to admit it. I quietly seethed because at this point all I wanted was closure and it didn’t look like I was going to get it.
So, one day at work, maybe 2 months after the Christmas party, I overheard someone saying that when she loses things, she asks ‘the spirits’ to return it, and it often turns up a short while later. LOL, OK. I’m not into that. But you know what? I was desperate to find this bloody varnish; it was a mystery begging to be solved, and I was still cross with my mum, who by now I was sure was lying to me.
So, I went home, sat on the spare bed, and asked ‘the spirits’. I didn’t know who ‘the spirits’ were supposed to be or how one addresses them, so I opted to ask a specific spirit, my deceased maternal grandmother. I said ‘I’m so cross with mum because I think she’s lying to me over something so trivial. Please, if this thing is still in the house, show it to me.’
A few days later (between three and seven days, can’t be more exact), I had forgotten this ridiculous ritual, which I had not expected to work, and I walked into the spare bedroom looking for something else. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something red on the shelf above the desk. The nail varnish; as plain as day, right in front of the other varnishes as if it had been there all along. I was agog. And then I noticed something else out of place: a single white feather, around 7cm long, sitting on the opposite end of the shelf.
I felt a sudden rush of emotion. You see, my mum believed that feathers are a sign from a loved one in heaven, and had *numerous* stories of them turning up in odd circumstances (apporting), which she had always attributed to her mum. I don’t believe in such things, but it felt meaningful in the moment, and I do wonder if such things are possible. I thanked my grandmother out loud, and have kept the feather to this day.
FYI, we didn’t keep feather pillows or bedding in the house due to an allergy, and we never opened the upstairs windows in winter, so the only way that feather got there was if it floated through the front door, turned right a bit, floated up the stairs, did a 180 degree turn, and landed somehow on a high narrow surface by complete chance. Of course, my husband denied being behind it, and it’s not at all the sort of thing he would do. And the only way that varnish vanishing act can be explained is if both me and my husband failed to see it for many weeks, despite being right in front of us. I guess that must be what happened, but I’m not sure I’m buying that explanation either.
Erm…
Well, I’m not quite sure what to say about that. Is it really impossible to not see something before your very eyes for such a long period of time? And, two people? Is that a mass hallucination? I leave debunking and explanations to others who know far more than I of such matters. I’m more about the stories than the science! But sometimes I might have a real life theory to explain an event. In this case I’m stumped. It’s another JOTT moment (just one of those things). I often think, if you can’t explain it, it is because it is related to something otherworldly and yes, I do think that apporting is possible.
Quote from Wikipedia to explain apporting
In parapsychology and spiritualism, an apport is the alleged paranormal transference of an article from one place to another, or an appearance of an article from an unknown source that is often associated with poltergeist activity or séances. Apports reported during séances have been found to be the result of deliberate fraud.
We aren’t hearing about séances today. These are all stories of everyday objects disappearing in normal everyday houses. It does seem to happen regularly. Quite often we might just shrug these apports off or barely notice. But sometimes, things happen that can’t be ignored.
Owen’s Clicker
You may have heard me mention Owen before, the most fantastic Welsh storyteller from Time Between Times before. I’ve shared a few stories of his before and we love to meet up and go on adventure.
This event happened just the other week and in his own words Owen tells us about his missing Powerpoint clicker, an essential tool for his job as a presenter and trainer.
Bit strange don’t you think? If you have an empty bag you aren’t going to miss a clicker! I definitely think Owen is extra intuition. He’s had plenty of ghostly experiences but yet he doesn’t class himself as a believer. And he can’t explain this missing clicker business so I guess it’s another one for the unexplainable files.
If you want to hear about Owen’s other experiences you can read about them here.
Michelle’s next apporting experience happened after the nail polish one. Here it is:
The missing necklace
In the spring of 2019, I visited Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest with my family. On our last day at the park, I took off a long necklace I was wearing because my baby son kept tugging at it. I stuffed it absentmindedly somewhere in the pushchair with our bags.
I thought no more about it until I unpacked the bags when we got home and realised I hadn’t unpacked the necklace. Remembering that I had taken it off that day, I began to worry that I might have placed it on top of the pushchair hood, or somewhere else insufficiently secure, and dropped it while we were walking around. So I interrogated all the bags we had had on us that day, as well as the pushchair itself, in an effort to find it; it was one of my favourites and if it was lost I would need to replace it.
I didn’t find it.
I tried mentally retracing my steps to determine exactly where I had stowed it, but I couldn’t remember, so I asked myself where would be the most sensible place to have put it? After consideration I decided a specific small zip pocket on the inside of a specific bag was the most secure place, so I checked that pocket again. Nothing. I shook the bag in case I could hear it jingling in there. Nothing. Put my hand in the pocket and felt along all the seams to be sure it wasn’t hiding in a fold in the lining. Nothing. Inspected the pocket for holes or folds. Nothing. Patted down the pocket from the inside and out to see if I could feel any lumps inside it. Nothing.
I really didn’t have a lot of spare cash in those days so I avoided replacing the necklace until I saw one in the sale, several weeks later. In that time, I checked the pocket again, just as before, at least three times; anything to avoid making an unnecessary purchase. NOTHING. I can’t emphasise enough that it WAS NOT THERE. I even got my husband to look in the bag and ensure he couldn’t see it either, having previously been stung by the invisible nail varnish debacle in my other story. He couldn’t find it.
So, I replaced the necklace, and six months later, I packed the same bag with clothes ready to visit Center Parcs again. Now, whether I checked the bag again before I packed it, I can’t now say, but I certainly didn’t spot any necklace at that time. On arrival, I unpacked the bag, intending to fill it with swimming gear for the next day, when I heard an unexpected jingle. Opening the zip pocket, there was the bloody necklace in all its glory. It wasn’t the new necklace because 1) they’re totally different (one has heart shaped links and the other circles) and 2) I still have both necklaces to this day. (Also, the bag definitely only has one such pocket; I thought of that.)
It’s as though it dematerialized while we were at Sherwood the first time and could only rematerialize once we returned to the same spot!
I have nothing. It wasn’t there, and then it was.
Hmmm…
So, without this necklace turning up again we simply have a case of a missing necklace. Nothing paranormal or sinister. Annoying, yes! It might leave you wondering if you remembered stashing it correctly- is the brain playing memory tricks? But, how did that necklace get back in that bag? I can only reiterate that Michelle is a thorough person. This would not just of been missed. So, let’s just take this at face value? How did that necklace do an apporting number? Was it something to do with the family holiday? A sign? Someone trying to say ‘Hey! I’m here with you on holiday! In spirit’?
I have no thoughts or explanations. Another one for the unexplained file.
The Christmas ring
I wasn’t really planning on telling this story on here. But, when I decided to put together a missing objects blog I had to include this really. It fits so well. Allow me a little indulgence here into realms that certainly a sceptic will foo foo. But I like to explore new ideas and am open to them. With this in mind, last November I decided to go and see a medium. I have been to one once before and it was a crazy and accurate experience. I am aware there are so many frauds out there and tricks to get you giving information away. But, I still feel there are genuine people out there with insight we cannot yet explain with science. And therefore I am willing to still give it all a try, going along with a semi-sceptical mindset ready to recognise any major fraud.
I went to see a lady in Avebury and I won’t go into too much detail but without knowing anything about me, only my first name, she described a lady there with us, with irrefutable evidence for me that it was my grandma. Now, anyone could say it’s all coincidence but there was so much info spot on, I struggle to see it as mind tricks or coincidences.
Anyway, after the reading I was browsing in this alternative shop situated below the room where the reading took place. I was looking at and trying on the silver rings as I had been keeping an eye out for a new ring for the middle finger of my right hand for a while. I didn’t see anything in the shop that day.
From that reading I left with lots of food for thought and some good advice. That was that. I thought about my grandma quite a lot after that day and the advice she had given me. But I did decide to keep the whole visit to myself.
Fast forward to the day before Christmas Eve. I had been cleaning up the house first thing before we all headed out to do Christmas shopping things. I like my house tidy and the worktops in the kitchen were clear, as I like to leave them. We all returned to the house and I took a load of bags into the kitchen and dumped them on the table.
I glanced around and something caught my eye. A silver ring. On the work surface. Just sitting there. I was the first in the kitchen but I asked my boyfriend and our kids if they knew where it came from. I was met with shakes of the head and blank stares. No one had ever seen this ring before. I thought my boyfriend was playing a trick on me but to be honest he was starting to get a bit freaked out too.
It was a lovely silver ring, inlaid with abalone shell. Just the sort of thing I would pick out for myself. But I swear I have never seen it before. I decided to try it on. You might not believe this but it was a perfect fit for my middle finger on my right hand. And it looked so nice.
I sent pictures to my family and anyone who had been in the house in the last month. No one has ever seen this ring. I found it, two days before Christmas, as if it had been left for me. A wonderful apported gift. I do wonder, if my grandma was really there with me and the medium that day in Avebury, could she have watched me browsing for rings and decided to send me a little gift?
Just to say, I wear this ring every day, with all my others. It now sits on my right forefinger. Every time I look at it, I like to think, maybe there is a little bit of magic in this world!
Following the publishing of this blog, one of my Twitter pals Lina, known as Musicalina, got in touch. Lina’s is over in California so is bringing us an international experience. It’s a great apporting story and once again, unexplainable!
With thanks to Lina for sharing this with me.
The Curious Apport
Over the many years of my life, I have had a few interesting apport experiences. However, the one I’m about to relate is definitely the most curious.
One night/early morning around 3:30 am, in March of 2018, I awoke when our cat, Magoo, wanted out of the bedroom. As I got up to open the door for her, I figured I’d hit the bathroom before going back to bed. Between our bedroom and the bathroom is a large family room. I took a few steps out of the bedroom, and was in the middle of the family room, when suddenly I felt something soft and spongy hit me dead center on the top of my head!
I looked down to see what hit me, and by the glow of the nightlight, I saw something dark laying at my feet. I picked it up. It was very light and felt familiar. It was a microphone sock!
For those unfamiliar, a microphone sock is the spongy sheath that you put on a microphone that acts as a shield between the person speaking and the mic. We did have some around the house, as we’d sometimes record an internet radio show at home, but that didn’t explain how one came to be dropped on top of my head in the middle of the night, with absolutely nothing overhead! In fact, in order for the mic sock to have bounced off the top of my head like it did, it would have had to have been held directly over my head, at just the right height, and then dropped.
I did want to get some sleep, so I decided to not think about it at that point. Instead, a couple of days later, after giving it some thought, I experimented with other possibilities of how the mic sock came to be dropped on my head. But in the end, there really was no plausible explanation.
One interesting thing: when I later told my husband what had happened, and showed him the mic sock, he said, “Hey – I’ve been looking for that!” We had different colored ones, but he’d been missing this one – the black one – for a while. At least it was a helpful apport experience!
October 2023 Update
I think this blog might be one of those that gets added to, time and time again, and sure enough, Owen got in touch with another little missing story. He and his wife went for a few days away to Stratford-upon-Avon to watch Macbeth and have a little break. Owen says he had a baseball cap, a favourite hat of his that he wears often.
On the day they were due to leave, they were packing up their suitcases and the cap was nowhere to be seen. Owen had worn it on the trip so he knew he had it and he was sure he hadn’t left it somewhere. Owen and his wife turned the small hotel room upside down looking for it. High and low they searched, but it was nowhere. Owen began to wonder, is it his mind playing tricks on him again? For someone quite ordered and organised, he felt he was mislaying an awful lot of stuff lately.
Anyway, they headed back home and thought no more of the cap. It was lost and that was that. Until, that is, the phone rang. Owen was very surprised. The hotel had got in touch to say the cap had been found! In the room where Owen and his wife had stayed, the cap was there on the bed. Just sitting there!
Now, here’s the weird thing; four different sets of people had stayed in that room since then and four times it had been cleaned. One day the cap just reappeared!
Owen said he was really happy it has now been returned. Personally, I think someone or something (maybe from another realm) is trying to get in touch with him and they are trying to give him a sign. And Owen, who really is a sceptic at heart, is beginning to think the same. Watch this space… I suspect there will be more to this story!
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Are you on Twitter? You can follow Owen here. And Michelle can be found here. They are both lovely and I recommend you find them!
If you want to listen to Owen’s awesome Welsh Folklore stories you can find it here.
Main image photo credit: Jonny Gios Unsplash
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Have you had something go missing that suddenly ‘turns up again’? Are you struggling to explain it? Drop me a line and we can add your story to the blog!
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